Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c36.2376

v2.c36.2376

The Commentaries give more details. The Buddha returned to Sāvatthi after his last vassa in Beḷuvagāma. Sāriputta sought him there, and, realizing that his death would come in seven days, he decided to visit his mother, for she, though the mother of seven arahants, had no faith in the Saṅgha.⁵² He therefore asked his brother, Cunda, to prepare for the journey to Nālagāmaka with five hundred others, and then took leave of the Buddha after performing various miracles and declaring his faith in the Buddha and uttering his "lion's roar." A large concourse followed him to the gates of Sāvatthi, and there he addressed them and bade them stay behind. In seven days he reached Nālaka, where he was met by his nephew, Uparevata, outside the gates. Him he sent on to warn his mother of his arrival with a large number of people. She, thinking that he had once more returned to the lay life, made all preparations to welcome him and his companions. Sāriputta took up his abode in the room in which he was born (*jātovaraka*). There he was afflicted with dysentery. His mother, unaware of this and sulking because she found he was still a monk, remained in her room. The Four Regent Gods and Sakka and Mahā Brahmā waited upon him. She saw them, and having found out who they were, went to her son's room. There she asked him if he were really greater than all these deities, and, when he replied that it was so, she reflected on the greatness of her son and her whole body was suffused with joy. Sāriputta then preached to her, and she became a *sotāpanna*. Feeling that he had paid his debt to his mother, he sent Cunda to fetch the monks, and, on their arrival, he sat up with Cunda's help and asked if he had offended them in any way during the forty-four years of his life as a monk. On receiving their assurance that he had been entirely blameless, he wiped his lips with his robe and lay down, and, after passing through various trances, died at break of dawn.